"A Group of the Girls' School. Bateuru and Mikaio, their Gilbertese Teachers in the rear row. 68 Girls in the School." One image from an album of 32 prints of Ronoronu, Beru, inscribed, "Photographs from Ronorono, Beru, Gilbert Islands. Taken by the Rev. W.E. Goward. For the Rev. R. Wardlaw Thompson, B.A. D.D., with sincere regards.". Rev. Goward served in the South Seas from 1888 to 1919. Wardlaw Thompson was Foreign Secretary of the LMS from 1881 to 1914 and had visited the missions in the South Seas as part of the Deputation of 1897-1898.; A mission to Samoa or Navigators Islands was started after a visit by John Williams in 1830. The mission field was successful, famous for its educational work. The Malua Theological College was established in 1844 and the Leulumoega High School was established in 1890. A school for girls, called Papauta, was founded in 1892. By 1905 the indigenous Church was well organised and became effectively financially independent in the 1920s. A high percentage of the population was allied to LMS churches. The main LMS mission stations were on the islands of Upolu and Savai'i in Western Samoa and Tutuila in Eastern Samoa. The Gilbert Islands [later Kiribati] became part of the Samoan mission in 1870 and together with the Ellice Islands [later Tuvalu] became known as the North-West outstations of the Samoan mision.